Balwyn premiership coach Brenton Sanderson says he was \u201cdevastated\u2019\u2019 to be sacked by the Eastern league powerhouse.<\/p>\n
After four consecutive losses, the Tigers parted ways with their two-time premiership mentor last week ahead of a bye.<\/p>\n
Speaking publicly for the first time since the announcement on SEN, Sanderson said he was on an overseas holiday with his family when he heard his assistant coach, a \u201cclose friend\u201d and teacher at Mentone Grammar, had been tipped out.<\/p>\n
Sanderson said he called a committee member about the decision and tensions reached a boiling point.<\/p>\n
He said \u201cit can be a little bit political but the people that obviously pay you, they can do whatever they want really\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the committee guys let go one of our coaches while I was away. I wasn\u2019t told about it,\u201d Sanderson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I called up to question that decision and how I wasn\u2019t consulted, the conversation didn\u2019t go as I was hoping it would.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a few things said which I think made it really hard for me to come back. I\u2019m obviously devastated because I love the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing because I do really have high standards and high expectations around behaviours. And I\u2019ve got some really strong values around footy as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of that is around respect and I\u2019m disappointed it had to end this way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely no bitterness because I\u2019m really grateful and the privilege to coach a team like that and have that premiership success is memories that I\u2019ll always have.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Adelaide AFL coach Sanderson said he understood the club\u2019s decision after a form slump in the past month.<\/p>\n
He said there were \u201cdefinitely no regrets\u201d and that he had positive relationships with a number of people at Balwyn.<\/p>\n
The ex-Geelong defender guided the Tigers to back-to-back premierships in the Eastern league\u2019s top flight in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was told when I took the role four years ago you\u2019ve got to have premiership standards, you know, and I said, \u2018Yeah, for sure, you know that\u2019s the attitude that I\u2019ll bring and you know there\u2019s behaviours and expectations\u2019 and as I said a really strong set of values which I think every coach has got to have.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if they\u2019re not being met then it\u2019s probably time to step away but sometimes people make mistakes and I\u2019ve made a lot of mistakes this year. We lost four games in a row and the buck stops with the coach. I certainly don\u2019t agree with the decision but you have to respect that people have their opinions on how things should be done.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy commitment to the club was challenged this week but it couldn\u2019t be further from the truth because I love coming to the club every Tuesday, Thursday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd on some of my darkest, most horrible days when I get to the club I just love it. You leave with a big smile on your face because there\u2019s some genuine great people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went 10 out of 10 with effort and intensity. We got a couple of flags which is awesome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve definitely got no regrets. Maybe some relationships could have been different but you move forward and you look forward to whatever\u2019s next.\u201c<\/p>\n
The Tigers appointed former AFL player Lachie Young to take over as coach, assisted by Sydney Swans great Leo Barry.<\/p>\n
In announcing Sanderson\u2019s departure, Balwyn gave no reason for the decision.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s understood a number of senior players had expressed disappointment with the coaching staff this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Balwyn premiership coach Brenton Sanderson says he was \u201cdevastated\u2019\u2019 to be sacked by the Eastern league powerhouse. After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-803202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}